Disposable absorbent products have met with widespread acceptance in the marketplace for a variety of applications, including infant and adult incontinence care, in view of the manner in which such products can provide effective and convenient liquid absorption and retention while maintaining the comfort of the wearer. However, experience has shown that a need exists for thinner, more discreet, garment-like products that can be highly resistant to leakage in use. Absolute confidence in leakage performance of adult products is important because of a risk of embarrassment in public.
There has been a move toward thinner cores of higher density generating structures that have less free volume than conventional wood pulp fluff/superabsorbent polymer (SAP) cores. The free volume required for rapid capillary absorption in an ultra-thin core can be less than the volume of liquid that it is required to contain. Superabsorbent polymers in an ultra-thin core can ultimately absorb large quantities of liquid, but diffusion of liquid into a superabsorbent polymer is slow and typically requires several minutes. This invention provides a means to generate free volume in an ultra-thin absorbent core, on demand, for rapid absorption of liquid in response to wetting.